On Monday when the final bell of the school day went off, I ran to the locker room. I had changed into my shoes and white jersey before anyone else made it to the locker room, but I didn’t care. I followed my teammates on the court and practiced until game time.
When the game started, I sat in the middle of the bench, focusing on the game. The big difference between this game and playing at the park were the guys in the white-and-black striped shirts. I didn’t like how the game stopped, especially the noise of the whistle and the buzzer. The buzzer reminded me of the sound coming from the library when I got caught “stealing” books. I don’t know why it was necessary for anything to make those terrible noises.
At halftime we were losing by two points. So far, I hadn’t made a fool of myself, and I had scored two points in the couple of minutes I played. Coach talked to us in the locker room about our plan for the second half.
“I want to make a change in the lineup to start the second half. We will go with Justin, Charlie, Caden, Jordan, and Jeremiah. Come on, bring it in. Win on three.” Coach nodded to Jordan.
“One. Two. Three!” Jordan shouted.
Hot diggity dog! I’m starting the second half.
“Win!” We all shouted and jogged out of the locker room.
When the second half started, I followed my teammates onto the court. The other team had the ball at half-court. I focused on the player with the ball and read his mind. He was about to pass to the guy I was guarding! I zipped out in front of the pass and stole the ball. Nobody was ahead of me, so I dribbled to the hoop. The other team ignored me, and I heard my teammates and coach shouting as I shot the basketball.
The ball went in the hoop. I smiled as the whistle blew, and the game stopped. I looked at the referee. He was talking to the other referee while Coach Graves waved me over to him.
“Nice going, Baker,” Caden said, laughing. “Only you would do something that dumb.”
Oh pug. What did I do?
“Charlie, you scored for the other team,” Coach Graves said.
“What?”
“That’s the other team’s basket that you scored on.”
“But that’s the one we shot the ball on last half.”
“Yes, but it switches at half time,” Coach said.
“I didn’t know that. Why do we switch hoops at halftime?”
“To keep it fair. You always switch hoops at halftime of every basketball game.”
“Oh,” I mumbled.
“It’s okay, Charlie. Every year somebody does it. Shake it off.”
“Shake it off ... okay, then.” I shook my arms, then my legs, and the rest of my body. Coach Graves stared at me, and all my teammates on the bench cracked up with laughter.
“Charlie ... you are ... never mind. Get back on the court.”
I ran back on the court and shrugged while Caden and Jordan glared at me.
“You haven’t played much, right?” asked Justin, one of my other teammates. I nodded. “Makes sense. Don’t worry about it.”
“Thanks.”
The whistle blew and the game began again.
The rest of the game went by fast. I scored a basket in the right hoop, and we won the game by eight points. Caden scored the most on our team with twelve points. Everybody was happy, and nobody said anything about my goof after the game, not even Caden. I left the locker room with a smile on my face.
Amy waved to me from the other end of the bleachers. Maya was sitting next to her. I walked over to them.
“Great game,” Amy said. “You’re really good.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Except for when you scored at the wrong hoop,” Maya said. “Does that mean you scored six points or four points?”
“Give me a break. You know that I’m new at this.”
“Still,” she said.
“It’s his first year playing,” Amy chimed in. “Anybody could make that mistake.”
“Is it really a big deal?” I asked.
“No,” Maya said. “It happened last year in one of my games. It’s just funny that you did it.”
“Why is that?”
“Because if anyone was going to do it, it would be you,” Maya said.
“She’s right,” Amy added. “You do have a funny way of having weird things happen to you. There’s the time you ran the wrong way in kickball. Or the whole Halloween passing out thing,” she said.
I shrugged.
“It’s okay. I still like you, even if you’re a bit goofy.” Amy smiled. Maya groaned and looked away.
Charlie, we need to get going, my dad said. The sudden voice in my head made me jump a bit.
“Okay, I’ll be over in a minute,” I said aloud, not thinking about what I was saying.
“Be over where?” Maya asked.
I looked at Maya. “Lickity split,” I said.
“That’s a good one,” Amy said.
“You like it?” I asked.
“Yes, your funny sayings are cute,” Amy said.
I smiled and then looked at Maya. She had a scowl on her face.
What’s wrong with Maya?
Charlie, my dad said again in my head.
“I need to get going,” I said. “See both of you tomorrow at school!” I gave a quick smile and hurried away before I said something out loud again instead of in my head. I’d have to figure out the Maya thing the next day.